Quodvultdeus: A Bishop Forming Christians in Vandal Africa A Contextual Analysis of the Pre-baptismal Sermons attributed to Quodvultdeus of Carthage By David Voprada BRILL LEIDEN BOSTON Contents Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Introduction 1 PART 1 Africa, the Vandals, and Quodvultdeus Introduction to Part 1 11 1 North Africa, Carthage, and Its Religion 13 1 Roman Africa 13 1.1 The City ofCarthage 16 1.2 The Religion ofAfrica 19 1.3 African Christianity 21 2 The Barbarian Invasions 28 2.1 The Origin of the Vandals 31 2.2 The Invasion ofAfrica 34 2.3 Carthage Captured 38 2.4 Vandal Residence in Africa 40 3 The Catholics in the Vandal Kingdom 44 3.1 Vandal Christianity 49 3.2 Geiseric's Persecution of the Catholic Church 51 2 Quodvultdeus and His Work 57 1 Life of a Deacon and a Bishop 57 1.1 A Deacon in Carthage 58 1.2 Quodvultdeus's Correspondence with Augustine 61 1.3 The Bishop ofCarthage 62 1.4 Exile in Campania, Quodvultdeus's Death and His Cult 65 2 Quodvultdeus's Work 66 2.1 Authenticity ofQuodvultdeus's Works 67 2.2 Liber promissionum et praedictorum Dei 77 2.3 De quattuor virtutibus caritatis 79 2.4 Adversus quinque haereses 82 2.5 De tempore barbarico 1 85 VI CONTENTS 2.6 De tempore barbarico n 87 2.7 Dubia 89 2.8 Prebaptismal and Baptismal Catecheses 90 3 The African Tradition of Preparation for Baptism 92 1 Education Related to Baptism in Antiquity 93 2 Augustine's Catechumenate 101 3 The African Catechumenate according to Augustine's Works 106 3.1 The Initial Catechesis and Entrance into the Catechumenate 106 3.2 The First Part ofthe Catechumenate: The Hearers 110 3.3 Giving a Namefor Baptism 114 3.4 Scrutinies and Exorcisms 118 3.5 Handing over the Creed 121 3.6 Handing over the Lord's Prayer 124 3.7 The Baptismal Rites 126 PART 2 Quodvultdeus's Catechetical Programme 4 Catechumenate and Giving the Name for Baptism 133 1 The Catechumenate and Its Entrance Rite 134 2 Inspiring the Competentes 136 2.1 De cantico novo 137 5 Renunciation of the Devil and Adhesion to the Faith 150 1 Scrutiny and Handing over of the Creed 152 1.1 The Scrutiny: Rooting out the Devil 155 1.2 Receiving the Creed 164 2 De symbolo 1 168 3 De symbolo 11 174 4 De symbolo 111 181 5 De accedentibus adgratiam 1 186 6 De accedentibus ad gratiam 11 195 7 Contra Iudaeos, Paganos, et Arrianos 200 6 Quodvultdeus's Baptismal Theology 211 1 De ultima quartaferia 212 2 De cataclysmo 216 CONTENTS VII PART 3 Quodvultdeus's Catechetical Ministry in the Unpieasant Times Introduction to Part 3 223 7 Building the Community 224 1 Building Baptismal Identity and the Mother Church 224 2 Typology and Mystagogy 230 2.1 Mystagogy 230 2.2 Biblical and Liturgical Typology 232 2.3 Liturgy and Mystagogy 235 3 Mystagogy of the Scrutiny and the traditio symboli 236 4 Exodus Typology of Baptism and Eucharist 240 4.1 Crossing ofthe Red Sea 241 4.2 The Passover Lamb 243 4.3 Christ the New Moses and the Stairs ofthe Cross 246 5 The Mystagogy on the Power of Christ's Blood 248 6 Non-typological Sacramental Catechesis 255 8 Defending the Church 257 1 The Devil and His Pomps 261 2 The Church Facing Various Religious Groups 265 3 Polemical Language of Quodvultdeus's Sermons 267 3.1 Manichaeans 275 3.2 Schismatics 278 3.3 Pelagians 279 3.4 Sabellians 281 3.5 Arians 282 3.6 Jeivs 290 3.7 Pagans 296 4 Return to the Catholic Church 299 Conclusion 303 Bibliography 309 Biblical Index 336 Index of Ancient Sources 339 Index of Names and Places 359 Index of Modern Authors 364.